


Everybody Knows

by that_one_kid



Category: The Lord of the Rings (Movies)
Genre: Aragorn is a good dude, Gen, Gimli is perceptive, Legolas dealing with death hurts my heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 15:44:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16222214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/that_one_kid/pseuds/that_one_kid
Summary: Gimli knew of elves and men only what everyone knew. But surely it's impossible that everyone was wrong about them, right? Maybe not.





	Everybody Knows

Everyone knows what dwarves are like. Tough, brave, stubborn, selfish, greedy. Gimli knows this like he knows the call of the Earth in his bones.

Everyone knows what elves are like. Beautiful, cold, aloof, reserved, magical. Gimli knows this like he knows the sky outside the mountain is a painfully untouchable blue. 

Everyone knows what men are like. Fierce, angry, hungry for power, vicious. Gimli knows this like he knows how to avoid the goblins, the monsters of the mountains that lurk in the mines. 

And yet.

And yet he walks to Rivendell and he sits in a Council and he meets an elf who stands unthinkingly to defend his friend’s honor. He meets a human who kneels carefully before a halfling and pledges his sword. And although he doesn’t understand what happened to his world they need more help and dwarves are tough and brave so he pledges his axe, beaten only slightly to the punch by the elf. 

And yet he hikes along the mountainside and turns the party through the mines and fights the goblins and orcs and trolls with every ounce of strength and the elf stands by his side, catches him when he starts to fall, leaps onto the cave troll when hope is lost. And the two men stand between the monsters and the hobbits, time and time again. Aragorn is brave and true but still, he fears the power Legolas keeps reminding him he’ll have. 

And yet he meets the Lady Galadriel and she is beautiful and reserved, yes, but she is kind and fair and suffering under the spreading shadow. He can see the strength in the set of her shoulders, and he remembers an old tale the dwarves tell in whispers of the lady elf who banished Sauron and he no longer calls them legends. 

And yet he watches the look in Legolas’s face when Boromir perishes, more shock than pain still, still, after Gandalf fell, this elf is caught off guard by death. He watches Aragorn pull the last of them together, and the fierceness in the elf’s eyes is the opposite of aloof. Yet the look on Aragorn’s face isn’t angry or blood-thirsty - just sad, resigned, hopeful. 

And yet the horsemen of Rohan surround them and the man insults him, insults him like all men insult dwarves. No one is more surprised than Gimli when Legolas draws his bow fiercely in defense of the dwarf. Legolas stands resolute, fragile and so very mortal at the end of the horsemen’s spears and he holds the arrow on the man just because he insulted a dwarf he calls friend until Aragorn forces his arrow down.

And yet he stands in battle beside them, again and again. Legolas fights like he doesn’t know he can die and Gimli understands, now, why death will always catch the elf off guard. An immortal who refuses to know death, who chooses to allow the pain again and again because he cannot let his friends stand alone. A man who faces more death than he ever wished to see because his people, after all, need him. 

And yet.

 

“I’m wasted on cross country!” 

“Toss me!” 

“Not bad for a pointy-eared elvish princeling,”

“That still only counts as one!” 

“Told you! He can’t hold his liquor!”

 

And yet.

 

“Never thought I’d die standing side by side with an elf.” 

“What about side by side with a friend?”

“Aye. I could do that.” 

  
  


And yet.

 

He knows what dwarves are like. Loyal, brave, kind, and stubborn. More and more humble with each passing day. Careful, proud, small. Gimli knows this like he knows the call of the Earth in his bones.

He knows what elves are like. Loyal, brave, kind, and stubborn. Caught in a world only they can see. Afraid, fragile, slender. Gimli knows this like he knows the sky outside the mountain is a beautiful pale blue.

He knows what men are like. Loyal, brave, kind, and stubborn. Trying forever to make the best life that they can. Short-lived, corruptible, fearful. Gimli knows this like he knows the truth behind the fear. 

He watches the world go by, standing at the side of a man and a dwarf. Side by side with his friends. 


End file.
